You can have faith in _____

"You can have faith in me Ms. Newton. I am not the black wolf of the family my father was." Hendrick said.

Claire still stared at him dubiously.

"Black wolf?" She asked. "You mean black sheep or lone wolf?" His English was quite better than her Dutch but his mixed metaphores were beginning to get tiresome. She wasn't sure if his mistakes were intentional, trying to be cloyingly cute, or simply turns of phrase lost in translation.

"Either? Prost!" he asked with an easy grin. He raised his drink in a mock toast.

They had been sitting in the hotel's bar for almost 45 minutes. Claire kept testing him to see how much he may or may not have know about his father's murder.

She peered down at her meager notes.

"So you haven't seen your father in several years, but you spoke regularly. He seemed like a nice enough man when I met him. Why would someone want to murder him?"

"Someones." Hendrick corrected.

"Murderers plural? And your thinking on that is because?"

"Three car bombs go off across town from each other within seconds. That implies a group. I'm also positiving that you will see the explosives were at least a military grade derivative of C4 which you cannot manufacture in a sublet under a chain bulb."

"Sublet?"

"Sublet, under house." He pantomimed walking down stairs and turning on a light by pulling a chain."

"Basement." Claire sighed, dropped her pen on the table and took another sip of her cranberry juice. There had been no mention of types of explosives in any of the reports she had read, the going theory was some sort of IED. She continued:

"Why do you think it was military grade and not just some nut job with an axe to grind?"

"My father's careers were both varied and multiple. While he made some charming friends like you he made far more enemies."

"So which was he? A black sheep or a lone wolf?" Maybe a different tact would open up a lead.

"Difference? Maybe both. My grand ma ma was disappointed with some of his life choices."

"Really? Such as?" Claire was hoping something would drop into her lap.

Hendrick became distant.

"She never forgave him for marrying gypsy for starters. Was beneath his station."

"Ah, and was this wife number 1, 2 or 3?" she asked ticking through the profile notes.

"My mother... Number one. Grand ma ma says he only did it to get a rise out of the cousins, or my Grand Ma ma's sister." He looked very seriously into his drink.

"So why did you seek me out?"

He looked up at her eyes focusing directly on her:

"Justice. I will not get it from Inspector Hasbrouck"

"And why is that?"

"They were lovers and she is still too close to him to oversee this case properly."

"Why is she even on this case then?"

"She pulled some heartstrings to get it assigned to her."